


Danny Mania!

by lonelywriterboy



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Alternate Universe - Wreck-It Ralph Fusion, American Football, Angst, Banter, Conversations about Death, Deep Meaningful Conversations, Dick Jokes, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Late Night Conversations, Love, M/M, Makeup, Male Friendship, Multi, Ninja, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Party, Sexuality, Slow Burn, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-03-26 13:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13858731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelywriterboy/pseuds/lonelywriterboy
Summary: Arin, a disillusioned character in a shitty cabinet. Dan, the cheerful, smiling protagonist of Danny Mania. Arin's not coded to get crushes but this damn sure feels like one.[Heavily inspired by Wreck-It Ralph, borrows characters from other cabinet games and invents some too]





	1. Introducing Danny Mania

**Author's Note:**

> It's been...a while since I wrote Game Grumps fic. Hi, guys. Ya boy is back and this time he brought a weird fucking AU.  
> CW / drug and alcohol mentions in this chapter

Arin knew his job - he’d been doing it day-in day-out for nearly ten years, his entire existence. He let kids guide him through a maze (which he already knew intimately, and sighed every time they picked the wrong direction), he opened chests, collected treasure and generally did exactly what they told him. He fought snakes and giant scorpions, rolling his eyes at them as they did the same dumb fucking fights every goddamn day. He grinned at them when they got him to the centre of the maze, giving them the thumbs up. When the leaderboard screen popped up and darkened his whole game, he sprinted back to the beginning of the maze, dropping the treasure and weapons he collected along the way in the right places and positioning himself for the next kid.

He was pretty damn good at his job, if he said so himself. He just happened to  _ hate  _ it.

The other guys, they had cool games. Mario got to zip up and down pipes and kick the shit out of goombas. Pac-Man wasn’t exactly cool, but he was so off his head on pills that he didn’t care. Dig Dug got a different game every time. Not Arin, though. Nope. He was stuck in his shitty little maze, circling around it like a neverending nightmare, looking forward to his evenings in Drink Drink!, where he could drink all the beer he wanted and forget about the monotony of his life.

It kinda sucked.

* * *

 

Cabinets came and went, of course. When Tetris was cleared out, a vigil was held in the extension cable lobby - everyone knew and loved at least one of the guys, and their loss was painful. Arin barely noticed the arrival of a new football game, not least because the sports guys were almost always assholes. It would have been hard not to notice how dark his cabinet was becoming, though.

“Scorpion, can you see what’s going on? Is the arcade shut today?” Arin called. Scorpion was a pretty chill dude, even if he did occasionally have to drown him in acid from his stinger, and could climb up to the screen and check out the rest of the arcade better than anyone else.

“I’ll check. Give me a second.”

Any customers wanting to play Maze Escape would have been very surprised to see the antagonist of the game, Scorpion, crawling across the title screen and seemingly peering out into the arcade. There were none, however, because almost every customer was swamped around the new cabinet.

“Everyone’s playing that new football game - Danny Mania.” Scorpion called back down, before dropping back into his designated spot in the maze.

“Anyone else have players?” Arin asked, hoping to sound nonchalant. He hoped not. It was the cabinets that stayed dark for too long that were dragged away, and Arin didn’t want to go. Much as he hated his prosaic life, he feared what was beyond. Life before being plugged in didn’t seem to exist, and he was pretty damn sure there wasn’t a life afterwards either. Better to be alive and unhappy than dead and unaware.

“No, bro. Normal new game shit, they’ll be back soon.”

After a few seconds standing in his usual start pose, Arin sat down against the edge of the maze and settled into a nap. The clink of the coin would awaken him, but he doubted it’d be an issue. For a day or two, all attention would be on the dumbass new sportball game and he could lie back and imagine he was part of a better game.

* * *

 

“Arin! How was your day?”

Luigi was a good dude. He’d always pay for Arin’s drinks (considering how many thousands of coins he made a day, it wasn’t exactly a huge imposition) and he was a great listener. Arin would go off on a tangent, ranting about his stupid fucking game and his stupid fucking life, and Luigi would just sit there, nodding along. He wasn’t like his brother, fucked up on shrooms and constantly jacking off, he was cool.

“Pretty fuckin’ good, Lu. I only had to go ‘round the maze twice and I changed all the leaderboard names to TIT. You?”

“Too boring for me. Normally I enjoy chilling behind the scenes but I didn’t get a single try today. You want your usual?”

Arin shook his head, unusually chipper. “Nah, I’ll go for a Coke.”

Eyebrows raised, Luigi ordered himself a cider and the Coke for Arin. “You really did have a good day. First time you haven’t drank in...well, about nine and a half years.”

“Even when there’s new games I usually don’t get a day this free, I’m feeling great. If the guys from Danny Mania come in I wanna raise a toast to them!”

Just as Arin finished his sentence, the train to Drink Drink! arrived and amongst the usual crowd of disenfranchised video game characters someone Arin didn’t recognize stepped out. Tall and skinny, all knees and elbows, he had a wild puff of curly brown hair and was dressed in the weirdest looking football uniform Arin had ever seen - while he had shoulder pads, gloves and shinpads, his jersey was skintight and made of dark blue, sparkling lycra. Equally, his compression shorts were more compression leggings, stretching down to his mid-calf with tiny silver bells around the ankles. His jockstrap was unnecessarily huge, drawing everyone’s eyes to his bulge, and he had a grin on his face.

“Hey! I’m Danny, I’m from the new cabinet!” he announced to the room.

Moments later, he was swamped and fists were flying.

* * *

 

Neither Arin nor Luigi were really the fighting sort. Although both of their games contained a healthy amount of violence, they didn’t go out of their way to find it and felt disdain for the characters who did (like fucking Mario…). Seeing a fight break out in the bar startled them, but they both knew why it was happening. Danny was taking attention and business away from the other cabinets, and the guys in the bar were pretty damn insecure already, worried that they’d be unplugged and never heard of again. Seeing this pretty, quirky-looking dude amble in set something off inside of them, and they attacked him.

No one expected Arin and Luigi to jump in to his defence. Arin took a solid punch from Donkey Kong as he struggled into the fray, while Luigi whipped a fireflower from his pocket and ate it with a flourish, holding his hands up threateningly to make most people back off. In the centre of the mess was Danny, the stranger, the attention-stealer, looking beyond shocked. A huge patch of red pixels had amassed on his cheek where his attackers had got in a few good hits, and his mouth was downturned.

“Cool it, guys.” Luigi said, voice firm. The others, all having a grudging respect for him, nodded and made their way slowly back to the bar. They’d have to wait for another day.

“You okay, dude?” Arin asked Danny, looking him up and down. Danny nodded, before shaking his head and then laughing awkwardly.

“I guess so? Sorry you got punched, man, that looks pretty bad.”

“Look, let’s go back to my place, one or two mushrooms will fix you both right up.”

* * *

 

The journey to Mario Bros was silent, each man lost in their own thoughts. Arin’s cheek had swollen up badly from the punch (he was thankful that his coding had selected that injury response, rather than him dissolving into a puddle of goo and then reforming a few seconds later), while Danny simply looked surprised. Once they reached the cabinet, Luigi sifted through his cupboard to find a mushroom for each of them to heal the damage.

“You’re new here, right?” Arin asked, a stupid question designed to initiate conversation.

“Yeah - just plugged in yesterday morning. The kids really seem to like me!” Dan grinned, his teeth showing, and Arin found himself smiling too.

Goddamn. This sportball guy was kinda cute.

“Yeah, they love new shit. Some of the cabinets have been here for fifteen or twenty years, whenever there’s a new game they go wild.”

Danny looked Arin up and down for a second before grinning again and thrusting his hand out. “Call me Dan. My game’s football - I’m the hero, I guess. What’re your games?”

“Luigi. I’m overshadowed by my brother and I take care of dragons in my spare time.”

Laughter spilled out of Dan at Luigi’s frank statement, giving Arin a second to formulate his answer. When Luigi turned to him expectantly, he smoothly said, “I get pushed around a maze and dissolved by scorpions - y’know, the usual shit.”

Dan laughed again, and Arin felt his blush engine start up.  _ Fuck _ , this Dan guy was nice. He was kind of like Luigi, but with less dry wit and more outright enthusiasm. Arin could feel fondness prickling inside himself already for this new sporty guy.

Dammit. Arin wasn’t  _ meant _ to get crushes on cute sporty guys - it wasn’t in his coding.


	2. All in the coding, bro.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan repays Arin for saving him from the fight.  
> CW for very brief mentions of alcohol and drugs.

“Hey, Arin, are you going to the bar tomorrow night?”

“Nah, I don’t think the other guys are gonna be too happy with me. You either, Lu.”

Luigi laughed. “True. We should probably head Danny off and tell him what games to avoid, too. The Pong paddles are gonna beat the shit out of him if they get the chance.”

They spoke quietly, the night wearing on at a snail’s pace. Dan had quickly returned to his own game after eating the mushroom and healing up, giving them the thumbs up and promising he’d pay them back somehow. Now, Arin and Luigi sat in the train carriage which allowed Mario Bros characters to enter the lobby, talking quietly.

“He’s cooler than most of the sport guys - most of ‘em don’t have two brain pixels, he makes a nice change.”

Luigi’s laugh cut through the silence of the night, making Arin jump a little. “You’ve barely spoken to him. He might turn out to be a total douche.”

“Nah, you can just  _ tell _ he’s a chill guy.”

Shifting in his seat, Luigi turned and looked Arin directly in the eye. “Just make sure you borrow one of Ms. Pac-Man’s bows to clean up afterwards. You don’t wanna leave a pixel splurge everywhere.”

“Dude!” Arin landed a half-hearted punch on Luigi’s shoulder as the man laughed, before standing up. “I should go to bed. See you tomorrow - wanna meet outside Danny Mania?”

“Sure.”

* * *

 

The next day went much like the last, with almost every customer flocking to Danny Mania. Arin made his mind up to go into the cabinet once the arcade was closed for the night and check it out - even cool new games didn’t usually hold this much of the market share, there must be something pretty special in there. As he and Luigi waited outside of the cabinet for Dan to emerge, neither could see the appeal straight off the bat - the guys who flocked out were much like their counterparts from every other sports game. Eventually the crowd thinned, and with no Danny apparent Arin and Luigi shrugged at one another and headed through the gateway to catch the train into the game.

“Those dudes were kinda...macho.” Arin said as they zipped along the extension cord, turning to glance behind him at their receding backs. They were built much like the typical sports characters, bulky and muscular, wearing much more typical football attire than Dan.

“Yeah. Dan’s the protag, of course he’s a  _ little  _ different, but wow.”

Arin didn’t respond - indeed, he felt that he  _ couldn’t _ . They’d turned a corner and visible before them was Danny Mania.

Holy fucking shit.

* * *

 

Much like every other football game, there was a vast green field surrounded by built up bleachers, now empty in the dim light of the empty arcade. Unlike other sports games, there was more. Much more. Hotdog stands, an ice cream truck, a huge building to the side of the field labelled ‘Team Center’ and a kids jungle gym. The whole place seemed deserted, with no sign of Dan or any of the vendors or football fans.

“I guess he’s in there.” Arin said, gesturing to the Team Centre. Luigi nodded, and the two began the trek across the field to it, content to walk in silence. In truth, there was too much for them to look at to chitchat - as they walked Arin spotted a slip’n’slide, a race track and what looked like a performance stage.

“Lot of mini-games.” Luigi commented absently, his eyes focused on the edge of the football field where a couple of small mushrooms grew. “Lots of ‘em.”

As they reached the team centre, Arin drew back. “Should we knock, or…?”

They were saved from having to work out knocking etiquette when the door slammed open and Dan burst out, his face tight with tears in his eyes, before stopping short in front of them.

“Oh!” he said, eyes widening. In less than a second he’d perked up to the Dan that Luigi and Arin recognized from the day before, and gave them a grin. “Hey guys! I was actually gonna come find you, I’ve got some shit for you to say thanks for the ‘shrooms.”

“Would you mind giving it to be some other time? I was just accompanying Arin here - nice to see you again, Dan!” Luigi spoke quickly, practically tripping over his own words, before turning and walking smartly away without giving Dan or Arin the opportunity to reply. A hot flush spread through Arin as he realised that, jokes about pixel splurges aside, Luigi had definitely noticed that he was developing a bit of a thing for Dan and had decided to leave them together.

“Well then!” Dan said, laughing a little at the suddenness of the situation. “Come on in, Arin!”

When he clapped an arm around Arin’s shoulder, Arin tried to ignore just how warm he felt, and how nice that warmth was as it seeped into his own stiff shoulders.

* * *

 

“D’you get out of your cabinet much?” Dan asked as he lead the other man through seemingly endless, twisting corridors, all covered in posters and shields proclaiming Dan’s excellence.

“Nah. I mean, there’s not much to  _ do _ , and after last night I can’t see myself going back to the bar.”

The grin vanished from Dan’s face. “Sorry about that. I was just trying to be friendly, I didn’t realise people would be angry.”

“No no dude, don’t apologize! It’s not your fault that they’re all fuckin’ assholes.”

As Arin finished speaking, Dan pushed open a door and lead him into a small room. On the table, a wide array of treats were laid out, from burgers to slushies to candy. Compared to the rather limited foods provided by most of the cabinets, it was a feast.

“This might make up for it. I saw Pac-Man selling his cherries and how hyped people were getting over them so I figured you might like some of what we have to offer.”

“How’re you so skinny if you eat this shit all the time?!” Arin asked, circling the table like a lion tracking prey. Dan’s laugh filled the air.

“All in the coding, bro. Besides, my stomach’s kinda sucky, I can’t eat that much crap without getting glitches. You should see me after a couple of hotdogs.”

Even with this knowledge, it wasn’t hard for Arin to fill a plate with plenty of the food before settling down into a chair. Dan sat opposite him, the food and table separating them.

“What’s the deal with your game, anyway? This cabinet’s like, fucking  _ huge _ , and it’s got so much shit in it. It’s way ahead of all the other games here, mine included.”

Reaching for a slushie, Dan shrugged. “Lots of levels, I guess. They play a down then get a minigame. It’s pretty cool, it means we never really get bored. 

“God, I wish that was me. I do the same shit every goddamn times, unless the kids are totally fuckin’ stupid and can’t navigate a maze. The most exciting my life gets is when Scorpion dissolves me.”

Dan laughed. “Hey man, nothing like some hot juice from another dude to make life exciting.”

The man continued to laugh, and Arin laughed too, their voices loud in the small room, the echoing cracking them up all over again. Once the laughter subsided, Arin finally took a bite of his burger.

“Have you met many characters from other games yet?” mouth still full, Arin grabbed a bottle of root beer as he spoke and took a long chug. Dan’s upper lip wrinkled a little.

“A few. No one was chill except the girl from Delightful Lady Deluxe - you know her, right, Suzy?”

After briefly scanning through the girls he knew from the other cabinets, Arin shook his head. “No. If people don’t go to the bar I don’t know them - I’d probably recognize her, though.”

“She was super cool! She gave me an eyeliner to top up my war paint between games. She’s kind of...terrifying looking? In a great way? She has black hair and her game’s about makeup.”

A stab of jealousy shot through Arin. Despite barely knowing Dan, in his mind he’d staked a claim on the man. After all, he’d been the one to save him from getting beaten up (alongside Luigi, of course). He’d been the one who’d spent the day fantasising about the skinny jock. He’d been the one who’d sought him out to warn him away from the bar.

“That’s cool!” Arin forced himself to say, swallowing down the ridiculous jealousy. He  _ didn’t  _ have any right to Dan’s company, and he barely knew the guy! It was stupid to be jealous. “Do you wanna hang out tomorrow after work? Suzy and Luigi could come too.”

A grin lit up Dan’s face and made Arin’s heart beat uncomfortably fast, his cheeks flushing once more. God, he was fucking cute. “Hell yeah, man! I’m fuckin’ pumped for it! You ask Luigi and I’ll ask Suzy - we should probably come here. No offence to your games but we have the best shit here.”

“Okay,  _ true _ , but don’t say that to like...anyone else. You don’t wanna be the guy who hates the other games as well as the guy who’s hogging all the attention.”

Dan laughed. “Why? Don’t people love jackass self-entitled jocks?”

With a roll of his eyes, Arin leant forwards and gave Dan’s shoulder a light push. “It’s your funeral, man.”

The evening slipped away as they spoke, and Arin found himself filled with warmth. Now he didn’t just have one friend, he had two.

It was pretty damn cool.

 


	3. Dress-Up Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys prepare for hanging out with Dan, and a few more people end up invited.
> 
> CW for brief drug and alcohol references

Ross liked his life. The main antagonist in Algos, a devilishly hard scrolling platformer, he got to see kids waste their quarters on trying to beat him. Few ever did, but many came up against him and were annihilated. It helped that Barry, the protagonist, was the sweetest guy in the world and outside of work they were super close friends.

It also helped that Barry wore a vest, tight pants and not much more.

He knew he was a character, something created by the humans who liked to play with him. His memories began the day he was plugged in, and having seen cabinets come and go he was pretty sure that if he was unplug he’d cease to exist. Life and death. Pixels and electricity. That didn’t stop him from thinking and feeling and knowing, though - quite the opposite. Knowing that he was a baseline, an invention made for entertainment, made it easier for Ross to grow. He wasn’t doing it for anyone but himself. Mortality played on his mind, so he tried to develop himself in the time he had. He had an awesome best friend, he got to hang out with a bunch of super cool people, he owned a frankly excessive number of swords that regenerated if they were damaged and he occasionally dabbled with mushrooms, potions and Pac-pills. Life was good.

Then five new people entered his life like a whirlwind: Danny the football player, Arin the maze explorer, Suzy the makeup artist, Luigi the plumber and Brian the scientist.

* * *

 

Dr. Brian and the Beakers of Doom wasn’t exactly the most popular game in the arcade, but it had a small but dedicated audience. With a theoretically limitless possible high score (and a cost of 10 ¢ rather than a quarter) it brought in plenty enough money to justify its position in the arcade - plus, the arcade owner’s daughter especially loved it, and seeing her smile was more than worth the upkeep costs of the clunky cabinet. A simple match-three puzzle game, Dr. Brian was mostly just a face to give the game a vague plot - a grizzly, greying man with a billowing white lab coat and an in-depth knowledge of theoretical physics.

Yup, he definitely wasn’t appealing to the cool kids.

“Brian, the guy I told you about from the new football game invited me over for a little get-together. D’you wanna come along?” 

Suzy didn’t even bother to get off of the train to talk to Brian. She knew exactly where he’d be, sat comfortably on his armchair near the entrance to his game, reading a book or a paper. He always was. Their friendship was, on the surface, unusual - a makeup artist and a theoretical physicist. In reality, they were as close as friends can be, joined by a mutual kindness, generosity and love of dark, horror-themed things. It’d been years since they’d first bumped into one another and their friendship remained solid.

“Sure. Will he be okay with it?”

“I think so. There’s a whole bunch of people going - they’ve even got Arin from Maze Escape, and he  _ never _ goes anywhere except his cabinet and Drink Drink.”

Brian nodded, closing his book and standing up in a smooth movement. “Should I bring anything?”

“None of them seem to experiment with much, so no.”

That was another thing. Brian was one of the biggest drug dealers in the whole arcade - with potions and serums for every occasion, people would give just about anything to get their fix.

* * *

 

“Ross, Luigi’s invited us to a party in the new football cabinet. You in?” Barry grinned at his workmate as they prepared for the day ahead - not that they’d be  _ doing _ much, if the past few days were anything to go by.

“It’s not like I have anything better to do.” Ross said with a shrug, slipping on his cloak. “S’there gonna be any shrooms since Luigi’s going?”

“I assume so - you should stop with them, though. You don’t want a pixel haemmorhage.”

As per usual when Barry tried to give him sensible advice, Ross rolled his eyes. “Whatever, mom. We’ve got a day of torturing kids, first.”

It was Barry’s turn to roll his eyes. “ _ You _ torture them,  _ I  _ provide entertainment.”

Ross flapped his hand in Barry’s direction. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

* * *

 

“Luigi, I  _ gotta  _ talk to you.” Arin said, breathless from jogging around the Mario Bros cabinet trying to find his friend. As it turned out, Luigi was trying on various sets of dungarees in the high score screen and checking himself out in the reflection of the glass of the cabinet, frowning at what he saw.

“What’s up?”

“What do I wear? I only have this-” Arin pinched his khaki explorer’s outfit “-and I want to look nice.”

“Once you’re covered in Dan’s sweet, sweet pixelated jizz it won’t-”

“I’m being serious, Luigi. I want to look nice.”

The two men observed one another for a second, aware of a slight tension in the room, before Luigi shrugged and smiled. “Check out what we’ve got lying around. I’m thinking of going for purple dungarees and a white shirt, so probably don’t wear that combo.”

Clothes lay scattered all over the floor, and Arin hesitantly picked up a handful to sift through. Bright primary colours, lots of dungarees, random shoelaces from spare pairs of boots. None of it would make him look or feel any better than his normal clothes.

Then, in the dead centre of the floor, he saw something that’d fit the bill. Dropping what he held he walked over and picked it up, turning back to Luigi.

“You think this’ll suit me?” he asked, a wide smile on his face. Luigi glanced up and then grinned too.

“Definitely. Get it on, dude.”

* * *

 

Arin’s first thought upon entering was that he’d opened the wrong door. Instead of just Dan and Suzy, waiting for him and Luigi, there seemed to be a whole hoard of people - a couple of twinks, a guy with salt and pepper hair and then Dan and Suzy, sat at the back of the room. Luigi burst in, seemingly not caring about the unexpected people hanging out around the table, but Arin felt a lump in his stomach swell and grow heavy and he couldn’t bring himself to enter. His fingertips were numb, his lips tingling, his whole body simultaneously floating and sinking with anxiety and surprise.

A pink dress, white gloves and pink high-heels felt like nothing at all when Arin was confronted by new people, new people who likely knew him by reputation as a grumpy loner with alcoholic tendencies.

“Arin!” Dan finally said, standing up and making his way to the door. “I fucking  _ love  _ your dress.”

In under a second, Arin’s anxiety vanished, and as Dan slipped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him inside the room. Much like the day before, the table was groaning with treats, seemingly all of them from different games - Happy Potions from Dr. Brian and the Beakers of Doom, protein bars from Algos, candies from Delightful Lady Deluxe and all the incredible treats from Danny Mania. Luigi placed his offering of a handful of Super Stars (along with Arin’s generic potions, which made one feel invigorated and excitable for a few minutes) amongst them before flopping onto a spare seat beside the salt-and-pepper haired man.

“I didn’t realise it was a dress up party!” crowed one of the twinks, face split in a grin as he looked Arin up at down. Once again, the anxiety returned, but only for a brief moment.

“If you’re not gonna be chill you may as well go, dude.” Dan said, voice firm and unwavering. “Arin’s my buddy and he saved me from getting my ass whupped, he can wear what he wants.”

The twink glanced down at the floor, cheeks burning, before stammering out, “Sorry, Arin. I’m, uh, I’m Ross.”

It amused Arin to see how quickly Dan’s mild words had quelled the mischievous looking twink apparently called Ross. Evidently everyone else had realised how cool Dan was too, and didn’t want to get into his bad books.

* * *

 

“I fucking  _ hate  _ that jumped-up chef from BurgerTime. Thinks he’s the shit just because he makes crappy burgers, he’s a  _ cunt. _ ”

A few potions into the night, things were calmer. Dan had guided Arin to the seat next to him, one arm still thrown over his shoulder, and Suzy had made her way over to compliment him on his dress and how nicely it hugged his curves. Confusion had briefly seeped through Arin when he’d felt flutters as they talked, but he dismissed the feelings. He only had room for one person to fawn over and dream about, and he’d known Dan for longer.

Just about.

Equally, rude Ross had actually turned out to be incredibly funny. It seemed like it was just his way to be a little bit offensive, and once they’d all settled he’d actually sought Arin out to check if they were okay and that Arin didn’t hate him. He was actually kind of sweet, in a weird, sadistic-seeming kind of way.

“And that cock Ryu from the shitty fighting game. Everything with him is just a competition to measure dicks.”

Suzy and Ross’s conversation about douchey characters was mostly passing Arin by. All Arin could focus on was Dan’s hand, which had slid down to rest on his knee. Even through the soft, silky dress he could feel the heat of the man’s hand and the slight calluses on his fingertips, presumably from throwing the football. He had the most beautiful hands Arin had ever seen.

“I had sex with a Ryu at my old arcade!” Dan suddenly said, grinning. “Biggest dick I’ve ever seen. The personality, that is, not his actual dick.”

Sudden silence fell over the room.

“You were in a different arcade?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can see Arin in a Princess Peach dress here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brwpITP0xzU


	4. No one reads that shit!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arin and Dan have a conversation about mortality.

Dan’s life wasn’t exactly ordinary. He’d been made for a different game entirely, and had ended up with his coding shoved into a football game to try and give it a unique selling point. Instead of the protagonist of a music game, he was a footballer entirely controlled by the player, his costume a mish-mash of their styles. His life in his old arcade had been happy - sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Then they’d been unplugged.

There was a sense of nothingness, after the unplug. Darkness and stillness and a lack of choice. Just his consciousness, floating in nothing. No speech, no contact, nothing. Just nothing. He occasionally felt the mind of one of his cabinetmates rub against his, and there’d be a brief spark, words somehow passed to one another, but otherwise it was nothingness.

Being plugged in again was blessed relief - seeing his own body and knowing that he existed. Knowing the warning signs for an upcoming unplug and knowing that if it ever happened again, he could escape to the extension cord lobby. Knowledge.

Happiness had flooded him at his new old home, even after he’d nearly been beaten up just for being popular - happiness in the form of the two men who protected him. Luigi was kind enough, but Dan had known a Luigi before. It was Arin that fascinated Dan, the crude, funny guy with a lazy grin and a willingness to walk into a room of new people in a pink dress. He was funny and cute and kind and everything he said made Dan smile. Arin was a total dork, but Dan liked that about him - seeing his eyes light up when he spoke and the huge, exaggerated gestures and facial expressions he made made Dan smile too.

* * *

 

“You were in a different arcade?”

Barry, the kinder, softer twink, sounded shocked at that revelation. Dan’s eyebrows furrowed in bemusement as he took in the utter surprise of those around him.

“Yeah?”

More silence, more stares. Finally, Arin turned to Dan and spoke.

“No one else knows what happens when you get unplugged. We all started here. What happens, dude?”

God, those eyes. Arin’s eyes were a muddy dark brown, and everything he felt shone out of them. Normally, Dan wouldn’t want to revisit those quiet, confusing months spent alone in the eternal nothingness, but seeing Arin’s pleading eyes he knew he had to talk. Besides, everyone else seemed utterly enraptured, especially Brian. Evidently his scientific interest had been piqued.

“It was just kinda...nothing. I went from chilling with all my buds to just darkness and nothing, and then I was plugged in again.”

Yet again, the silence lay heavy on the room, each person digesting what Dan had said. It was Ross that spoke up next.

“You were unconscious though, right?”

“No! No, I knew what was happening, I could think, it was just like floating in space. I couldn’t  _ do  _ anything.”

After another couple of moments, the room settled a little, Brian turning to talk to Luigi and Suzy, and Ross reaching out for a slushie. Arin turned to Dan and saw that the man was pale, his chest rising and falling a little more heavily than usual.

“Hey, let’s step outside.” Arin said, voice firm.

* * *

 

It only took a couple of minutes to walk over to the bleachers, dimly lit with street lamps in the absence of the light from the arcade. Somewhere along the way Arin reached out and grabbed Dan’s cold, clammy hand, and Dan made no attempt to resist.

“You didn’t wanna talk about that, did you?” Arin said, blunt as ever. Dan shook his head.

“I don’t know...I don’t  _ really  _ mind, but it’s not exactly the happiest memories I have.”

“Dude, you obviously  _ do _ mind. You wouldn’t be fuckin’ shaking and shit if you didn’t mind.”

A slight smile appeared on Dan’s face, and he shrugged. “I guess. I just...I didn’t realise no one else here’s been unplugged. It must seem pretty messed up to them,  _ I  _ must seem pretty messed up.”

“Dan, you’ve literally just let everyone know that we don’t die if we’re unplugged - everyone’s fucking pumped! You did us a favour! Did you think we were pissed at you?”

“Yes!”

A long moment passed, the two men still holding hands, before Arin leant in and pulled Dan into a rough, tight, messy hug. “For someone who’s been in two arcades you’re fucking stupid, you know that?”

The hug ended with Dan jokily socking Arin in the shoulder. “Shut up! I’m new here, you’re meant to be nice to me!”

“Where does it say that? The instructions screen?” Arin asked, voice raising in pitch as he spoke. “No one reads that shit!”

“Everyone reads that shit!”

Laughter came suddenly and loudly, the two shaking and tears forming in their eyes as they laughed. Dan rested one hand on Arin’s thigh, fingers slipping against the smooth fabric of his dress, and just for a moment all felt right with the world.

* * *

 

The two men took a quiet walk around the football field before going back to the party, hands now separate and blushes burning on both of their faces, hidden by the darkness of night.

“I didn’t expect so many people to turn up tonight - you don’t really seem to like meeting new people much, Arin.”

“Oh  _ God _ no.” Arin said, shaking his head vigorously. “I hate meeting new people, you have to fuckin’ introduce yourself, and get to know them and shit - it’s just stressful. Before you turned up I talked to literally two people, and one of them’s a scorpion who straight-up murders me every day.”

Dan snorted before dissolving into real laughter. “I mean same, man, same. You’re so mad!”

“Yeah, well, people are douches and it makes me mad.” Arin was laughing too, voice increasing with pitch as he grew humorously defensive.

Shaking his head with mirth, Dan nudged Arin to turn the corner around the field. “I’ve never met anyone as ridiculous as you, Arin.”

“Shut up!”

To an outsider, it might have sounded like a real argument, but the two had become fast and firm friends. There was a natural rhythm between them, something which allowed them to get on with little effort. After a few moments of giggling, Dan spoke again.

“Do you ever wonder what’d happen if all the actual people died?”

“Holy  _ fuck _ Dan, this is meant to be a fun party not a fuckin’ ‘we’re all gonna die’ parade.”

“No, but seriously.” Dan suddenly stopped, grabbing at the soft fabric of Arin’s dress to halt him too. “What happens? I guess we’d end up unplugged eventually, or without power, and we’d just float around in nothingness forever. What do we do then?”

For a few seconds, Arin simply stood there, numb in his thoughts. “When you were unplugged, could you talk to other people?”

“Kinda? I’d kind of...feel them getting close to me, y’know?”

“It’s a pretty simple question then.” Arin said, voice dismissive. “I’d just find you.”

* * *

 

“You know, we should all go visit Captain Sealegs some time. His boat trips are fuckin’ awesome!”

Everyone in the room except Dan looked rather disdainful at Ross’s suggestion.

“Have you ever  _ been  _ on one of his trips?” Arin asked, nose wrinkled. “He just wants to touch dudes up! He totally felt up my ass when I went.”

“Me too!” Suzy said, throwing her hands in the air. “I bet you like that though, Ross.”

“Hey, shut up. I only like it when you do it, Suzy.”

Peals of laughter filled the room, accompanied by Suzy’s loud ‘ew!’ and Ross’s distinctive snicker. Dan was mostly quiet, much calmer now that he knew that no one was annoyed at him and happy to listen to the conversations around him. Just as Brian began to say something in response to Ross, a high-pitched whirring filled the air.

“Uh, what’s that?” Barry asked, looking around in confusion. It didn’t take long to notice Dan’s face, pale and still.

“That’s the machine being unplugged.”


	5. Starbomb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's going on? Why has Danny Mania been unplugged?

Fade In.

 

INT. Arcade, day.

 

_ A hoard of children surround a cabinet, obscuring it. They’re pointing and laughing, all very excited. _

 

                                                    CHILD 1

                        Wow! Only ten cents!

 

                                                    CHILD 2

                        The characters look so real!

 

_ DANNY and ARIN, protagonists of cabinet game Starbomb, walk across the screen (animated). _

 

                                                    ARIN

                        Starbomb, the brand new musical experience, coming to arcades near 

                        you!

 

                                                    DANNY

                         Only ten cents per play, we’re a bargain!

 

_ BRIAN, a ninja and the third protagonist of Starbomb, floats across the screen while playing a grand piano. He looks like he’s going to wave, but at the last second throws a ninja star at the screen. _

 

FADE OUT.

 

THE END.

* * *

 

“What happened to that Starbomb game?”

It was close to arcade closing time, and two children were left ambling around, no change left but not quite ready to exit the building yet. One had a pushy mom, and had appeared in a couple of commercials...including one for a hip new arcade game called Starbomb.

“It was cancelled.”

Both kids jumped at the loud voice of the arcade owner.

“Why?”

“The team making it ran out of cash.” the arcade owner rested a hand on each of the kids backs and began to guide them towards the exit. “They were coding Starbomb and another game - Polybius, I think - and they ran out. They sold all the assets including the textures and sprites. The protagonists are all in different games now.”

They reached the exit, and one of the kids reluctantly reached out to open it. “Do you think Starbomb’ll ever get made? Like, as a sequel to the games they made with the characters?”

With a shrug, the arcade owner gently pushed the kids out of the door. “Who knows, kids. If they do, I’ll be sure to get the cabinet in.”

* * *

 

“Run! We’ve got to run!”

All of them scrambled to their feet at Danny’s shocked words, Arin grabbing at his skirts to allow him to run faster. The seemingly long walk between the building and the train to the lobby passed in an instant as they sprinted, feet hitting grass and arms pumping at ridiculous speeds. Thank goodness they all had plenty of stamina coded.

“Where’re your gamemates?” panted Brian as they reached the train and leapt in, all breathing heavily. The world was crackling and fizzing now, colours coming in and out of focus and the grass on the ground vanishing at odd intervals. It felt like armageddon, pixels blurring and chunks of the board vanishing as they hurtled down the cable to the lobby, faces twisted with shock. Dan especially looked horrified, face pale and eyes downcast, one hand tight in his mop of hair and another gripping his knee tightly.

“I don’t know.” Dan whispered, before looking up, face wild. “We’re nearly there - get ready to run again.”

It was another ridiculous dash to get out of the cable into the lobby, the gang of them bursting through with heavy breaths, heads spinning around as they took in the scene in the lobby.

It was pandemonium.

Every cabinet had been unplugged.

* * *

 

“Have you seen Mario?”

Many in the lobby were wandering around, asking similar questions. It seemed like the games were unplugged with no warning, and lots of characters were stuck inside of their cabinets until they were plugged in again.  _ If  _ they were plugged in again. Danny had found his crew of teammates pretty fast, not that they wanted much to do with him (it seemed homophobia in sports was ingrained even in code), and everyone else had tracked down their cabinetmates after a short search. Except Luigi.

Peach was okay, her and Bowser had been canoodling in Drink Drink when the big pull started and had escaped. The goombas were wandering around, seemingly unharmed (lucky bastards). There was no sign, however, of Mario.

It wasn’t like Luigi and Mario were close - far from it. The two were as different as chalk and cheese, and if it weren’t for sharing a cabinet (and a bloodline) they would never have interacted. That was just it though, they were flesh and blood and Luigi felt pangs of anxiety climb up within him as he asked everyone and anyone if they’d seen Mario.

“Any luck?” Dan asked, slinging an arm around Luigi’s shoulder. Luigi shook his head.

“No.” Luigi gave a stiff smile. “At least we know that he’s not  _ dead _ . Just...in nothing.”

Dan nodded, and wrapped his other arm around the man to give him a swift, tight hug. “Don’t worry about it, Luigi. I’m sure the arcade’s just doing maintenance, we’ll all be plugged back in tomorrow.”

“Yeah...Dan, would you mind leaving me alone for a while? I want some alone time.”

With a nod, Dan returned to where his party were convened, turning back to glance at Luigi several times.

* * *

 

“Any sign?” Arin asked as Dan flopped down beside him. Dan shook his head, and the others clustered a little closer as he began to speak, concerned for their newfound friend.

“None. Centipede told me that like, half the characters are still in their cabinets, there’s a lot of worried people.”

“We’re all pretty damn lucky.” Suzy said, silence falling over them as they contemplated their situation. Half the characters still in their games, the other half stuck in the lobby until something was plugged back in. They didn’t  _ need  _ food or drink or warmth or shelter, they could survive without it, but life would be uncomfortable while they were all stuck in the lobby. It felt claustrophobic - none of the blue skies and fields that many of the games had to offer.

“Brian, what do you think’s going on?” Ross asked. Brian was well known for his scientific knowledge, and if anyone would know what was going on it’d be him.

“I honestly have no idea.”

Well. That wasn’t exactly comforting.

* * *

 

_ BREAK-IN AT LOCAL ARCADE! _

_ Jennifer Hatcher _

_ Beloved local arcade ‘Comicade Games Center’ has shut its doors for three days after a bizarre break-in left it in need of repairs. On the night of the 26th of February, a gang of local youths were observed breaking and entering the establishment, stealing cash from the register, unplugging cabinets (forcibly resetting some) and defecating on the floor. Three were apprehended by James Milton, an off-duty police officer who happened to be passing, but up to five escaped. Arcade owner Howard Jones has called the break-in a ‘cowardly and malicious act’ and estimates that repairs and cleaning as well as lost business will cost him upwards of $900. Anyone with any knowledge of the break-in is urged to contact the sheriff. _


	6. Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night passes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long, I've been super super busy.

Characters didn’t need to sleep, of course. Or eat, or do any of the things that a human had to to survive. They just had to make sure that they stayed alive when they left their cabinet - pretty simple. That didn’t mean they  _ couldn’t _ sleep or eat, of course - most of them did anyway, because it felt good and broke up their days a little. In the lobby that night, most characters found themselves sleeping, curled up in piles with their friends on the cold, uncomfortable floor.

“Hey man. You doing alright?”

Dan spoke quietly, aware that his friends were mostly asleep. Suzy lay with her head on Barry’s lap, while he was propped up between Brian and the wall. Ross was stretched out like a starfish, mouth open as he snored, and Luigi had gone to be with his cabinetmates. Arin simply sat, staring into space until Dan pushed up beside him, their knees touching.

“I’m okay. Worried about Luigi.”

“Me too.” Dan nudged himself even closer to Arin before dropping his head onto the other man’s shoulder, resting against him and feeling his warmth. The lobby was a little cold, and Arin found himself nestling closer too, enjoying the feeling of a body against his. Silence fell, and for a few moments the friends simply sat, bodies connected.

“What do you think happens next?” Arin asked after a little while, resting his own head against Danny’s mop of hair. It tickled his face and nose, but something about the closeness and familiarity that Arin had never experienced before felt like home.

“I think we’ll get plugged back in in the morning.” Dan said, speaking slowly as if considering every single word. “I think maybe some games’ll have moved around. Probably just decorating the arcade or something.”

“Do you really think that, or are you bullshitting?”

“I don’t know, Arin!” Dan’s voice raised a little, his body straining up, but almost immediately he collapsed back down. “Sorry. I just...I keep remembering shit from my old arcade, and I kinda miss it, y’know?”

Both men jumped out of their skins when Suzy plopped onto the floor in front of them, having come across seemingly silently. “What’s up?”

“We’re just talking about what’s gonna happen next.” Dan replied, lifting his head from Arin’s shoulder and shuffling away from him slightly. Suzy’s eyes flickered between them for a moment, but she said nothing, settling here gaze on Arin.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” he said, stumbling over the words. His own eyes were flitting wildly between Suzy and Dan - tiny, fierce Suzy and gentle giant Dan. He barely know Dan and he knew Suzy even less, but something inside of him prickled when he looked at them, something deeply hidden.

Christ, he could do with a drink.

* * *

 

“Games are plugging back in!”

A wave of groans and startled yelps filled the lobby as the drivers from Indy 800 clapped their hands and shouted the news. Arin jumped awake and in the process nearly knocked Dan over - the man had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Suzy lay with her head on Arin’s lap ( _ when had that happened? _ he briefly wondered) and bolted upright at the noise, a hand automatically flying up to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she woke up.

Sure enough, a couple of plugs had opened back up again - Mario Bros and Centipede, two of the biggest pulls. Luigi was on his feet in a flash, sprinting towards his game and, he hoped, towards his missing brother. 

“Good morning!” Dan said, stretching backwards to crack his back before lumbering onto his feet. For a moment, his eyes lingered on Suzy’s arm which still lay across Arin’s lap, but he quickly snapped his eyes away and grinned. “Told you shit’d be back today!”

“Are we gonna reschedule hanging out?” Suzy asked, standing up herself. Arin quickly followed and the three stood close together, subconsciously blocking everyone else out.

“I’d like that.” Arin said, reaching across to lightly touch Dan’s arm. “You okay with hosting us again?”

“Only if you find an even prettier dress to wear, Arin. Get Suzy to make you all pretty and I might even get us more hotdogs.”

The three laughed and Dan stretched once more, his skinniness emphasised as he bent backwards and pushed his arms out. His flat tummy caught Arin’s attention, and to his embarrassment he found himself staring at it, a flush tingling in his cheeks. Dan wasn’t particularly hairy, but he had a light scattering of dark hair over his tummy and chest. So skinny that his ribs showed, Arin was surprised to see how soft the very centre of Dan’s stomach seemed to be - he wasn’t a soft man all over, like Arin was, but his soft bits seemed to be like clouds and marshmallows and every other convoluted metaphor for softness that Arin could think of. 

“Of course. Suze, will you help turn me into a pretty princess?”

Arin didn’t know where ‘Suze’ came from, it slipped out before he could help it.

“You already are, Arin.” Suzy said, voice dripping with sarcasm, before lightly patting Arin on the arm. “Your game’s open, anyway.”

“Eh, there’s a while ‘til the arcade’s due to open, I can just hang with you two.”

“Hey, what’re you guys talking about?”

Ross. Of  _ course _ Ross had to interrupt them just as Dan’s hand had been moving towards Arin, ready to touch him, and Suzy was already making him feel that fizzy light-headedness that came with a crush.

“Goddammit, Ross!”

Arin glanced around, looking for the voice, before bursting into laughter. In his hurry to interrupt the tight circle, Ross had managed to knock Dan over. Pretty soon the whole gaggle of friends (minus Luigi, of course) were laughing, tears in their eyes partially from the sight of Dan all skew-whiff on the floor and partially as a way of relieving the tension of the night.

* * *

 

“I think that Arin guy likes you.”

Brian and Suzy were two of the last in the lobby, other than their cabinetmates. Most other games had been plugged in, and as the start of the usual working day had approached the rest of their friends had floated away, all promising to go back to Danny Mania that night to hang out (hopefully without the interruption of being unplugged again). Scorpion, Arin’s friend, had popped by to let them know that from the screen of their cabinet he could see that a few cabinets including theirs had eggs smashed on the screens, and were moved to the side for cleaning so wouldn’t be plugged in that day. With no more anxiety about their future but the knowledge they’d have to wait for a while to go to their homes, the two friends had settled back in the same corner they’d all slept in the night before.

“Nah man, don’t be ridiculous - he’s all love-eyes on Dan.”

Brian snorted, actually snorted, before knocking his knee against Suzy’s. “People can love multiple people at once, Suzy. I mean, look at Ken, Blanka and Guile. They beat the shit out of one another all day and then have sex all night.”

“Yeah, that’s the  _ healthiest _ model for a relationship. Violence and sex.”

After rolling his eyes, Brian spoke again. “You know what I mean - plus, you  _ clearly _ like Arin, and Dan’s been making sex-eyes at both of you, you should talk to them.”

“Sex-eyes? Ew, Brian, don’t be gross.”

“Can’t help the truth.” he replied, grinning as he shrugged his shoulders. You’ve seen how tall Arin and Dan are - and you know what they say about guys with big hands and feet. Big-”

“No!” Suzy laughed as she elbowed Brian. “Shut up, Brian, you’re disgusting.”

“You know it.”


End file.
